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mug on the table and wiped the lipstick off the rim. “How long do you think you’ll be in Wolfe Creek, Maggie?”
    Maggie knew she should be vague and distant just like she’d planned. But something about Candi made her want to confide in someone. A friend. She’d only been in town for a few days, but the remoteness was already wearing on her.
    “As long as it takes.”
    “Really?”
    Maggie nodded.
    “If you don’t mind me asking, how can you do that? Don’t you have responsibilities at home? A job, a family?”
    “I do. I do have all that. But I have a responsibility to Aimee, too.”
    “And that stuff about writing something for the tourism bureau?”
    “That was mostly for Gary’s benefit. Don’t think it worked, though. He might be smarter than he looks.”
    “Doubt it.”
    Maggie smiled. “It’s an interesting town, though. I didn’t lie about that. I came here prepared to hate everything about it. But it hasn’t exactly worked out that way. It’s strange.”
    “This place grows on you,” Candi said. “If you really pay attention, you’ll see that most people here had a chance to leave at one point and make a life somewhere else. But they didn’t. And the ones who do end up leaving always seem to come back.”
    Maggie looked up and noticed the barista watching them while wiping down the counter.
    “I think someone’s listening,” Maggie whispered.
    Candi looked over Maggie’s shoulder and wiggled her fingers. “Don’t worry about her,” she said under her breath. “But you’re gonna run into people who don’t like you, for no other reason than you’re from out of town.”
    “You seem awfully friendly.”
    “Well, I’m an ex-stripper who wears my heart on my sleeve. What can I say?”
    Laughing, Maggie set her mug down. She was as full of coffee as she’d ever been. If she kept laughing, even a little, she was going to wet her pants. “Where’s the bathroom?”
    “Down that hall, first door on the left.”
    Maggie stood. “Be right back.”
    The unisex bathroom was warm and cheerful. Small black-and-white photos of Paris and Rome hung on the walls and made it feel surprisingly exotic, as did a vase of dried flowers on the sink. But it was still a public restroom, and Maggie had developed a phobia of them since Aimee’s disappearance.
    She dried her hands, tossed the paper towel in the garbage, and opened the door with her sleeve pulled over her fist, something her mother had taught her by the tender age of five. A rule of thumb when using the public potty that was right up there with “Don’t lick the walls.” It had stuck.
    “Germaphobe?”
    Startled, Maggie looked up to see Koda Wolfe leaning against the wall. The expression on his face was so like his brother’s that for a second she just stood there, caught off guard. His starched, long-sleeved uniform shirt fit like a glove and hinted at a nice physique underneath. The silver star on his chest practically glowed in the subdued light of the hallway, reminding her that he was in a position of universal power, no matter how small the town. She tried to think of something witty to say, but all that would come out was, “Uhh…”
    His lips tilted. Not quite a smile, but not a frown, either. He looked different than he had at the café yesterday. Standing across from her now, close enough to reach out and touch if she’d wanted to, he almost seemed approachable. Almost.
    “I was just using the bathroom,” she said. Brilliant.
    “I see that. But I don’t think you want to go out there quite yet.”
    His face was perfection. Had she noticed just how perfect yesterday? Maybe it was the way he was looking at her, like they were sharing some kind of private joke. Hesitant, she smiled up at him, drawn in by those dark eyes. By the way he seemed to be leaning toward her, just a little.
    “I don’t?”
    It wasn’t her imagination. He was leaning toward her. And all of a sudden, it was hard to take a full breath.
    He